Al, It's hard to beat the real thing. My guitar teacher had a real Echoplex. These new pedals do a great job, the general public probably can't tell the difference, but there's something special about the real thing. The pedals are easier to lug around and more reliable, but the emulation, although they are really close nowdays,, it's just not quite the same.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they get a new gadget like an echo unit or rhythym application (like band in a box) is to try to get their money's worth in their first uses. By that I mean they overuse the effect because they think it is more important that people know they have the effect rather than to use either effect to enhance their performance.

I was doing some editing of my archive of Paul's comments and ran across this bit of advice which applies even now.

"...On an up-tempo tune one repeat is best. A lot of Les Paul's tunes had one repeat. If you use more the chords will overlap and it's hard to play on the beat. Chet used more repeats on slow tunes like “Sails”. He always said a delay gives you more sustain..." ___Paul Yandell